FV413: Stop or Die
by Fifth Voyager
Summary: The Equinox's big secret is out, and the aliens are killing their crew for revenge. It's first officer wont give up on their trip home and resorts to desperate measures to speed up the journey, even if it means leaving it's ally ship behind and crippled.
1. Chapter 1

**Stop or Die**

**Written //** 26th, 28th & 29th February 2004

------------

**The Equinox bridge:**  
"You're an idiot Rudy, we can capture a few more in the next Game," Max grumbled from his chair.

Ransom rolled his eyes, "the Enterprise crew knows about it, they'll be watching us and we are in agreement not to kill anymore creatures."

"You mean you are in agreement," Max muttered. "We still have one left to use, what's the point in not killing the one we have?"

Ransom turned to him, "there's still one left? How come they didn't find it?"

"Maybe we didn't keep it in the Science Lab," Max replied with his eyebrow raised. He grinned cheekily, the look on Ransom's face made his own face turn serious again.

"I think they'll notice if we re-activate the enhanced drive and leave them standing," Ransom said.

"Screw the Enterprise. The crew follows a twenty year old girl who isn't Starfleet trained, but just as stuck up as any other 'love the rules' Captain. Her mother is probably one of them," Max said.

"Max!" Ransom snapped. "She's right about this."

Max shook his head, "she's a Games Slayer, in other words Softmicron Slayer, the guys who control the damn things. She's obviously messed up if she's taking their side in this. Obviously she's messed you up too."

"Yes they're evil and she's suppose to protect planets from them, I get that. She doesn't kill them though, and we shouldn't either. It just makes us as bad as them, can't you see that?" Ransom said.

"No, I'll tell you what I can see," Max said, he stood up to face him. "I see our Captain who has kept us alive for ten years has gone soft, he's been brainwashed by a pretty face."

"Max I'm the Captain, and I know I'm right about this. We go through the game normally, is that understood?" Ransom muttered. He didn't wait for an answer, he made his way into his Ready Room.

"Fine," Max said, glaring at the Ready Room door. "Normally it is."

**The Enterprise, Ready Room:**  
"Trust me, there's one coming," Daniel said.

Lena groaned, "fine whatever."

Daniel raised one eyebrow, "are you ok?"

"I'm alive, thanks," Lena muttered.

Daniel grew uncomfortable, "um ok. I'm around if you need me, but in the mean time." He handed her a PADD, "I got Yasmin and that Barbie doll to get the exact co-ordinates this time."

"Uh huh," Lena said, nodding her head.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk?" Daniel asked as he sat down opposite her.

Lena finally looked up from the desk and made eye contact with him, "what? Oh right, I dunno.." The door chimed, "come in."

Craig and Zare walked into the room, Craig looked rather uneasy. "Hey Lena, do you have any ideas.." Zare said but Craig interrupted her by gently elbowing her. She glared in his direction.

"What do you want?" Lena asked.

"Well we're kind of stuck with something. We've been asking around, we only came to ask Daniel you see," Craig replied.

"Oh.. Lena's the ex, of course, I shouldn't ask her," Zare said.

Daniel glanced behind him, "ask me what?"

Craig knelt down nearby Daniel's chair, "got any suggestions for a first date, we're both a bit rusty."

Lena rolled her eyes, Daniel glanced at her briefly. "I dunno," he turned back to Craig. "I'm a watcher so I'm suppose to say something like 'no date for the little Slayer here'. Go and shove off Anderson."

Zare groaned, "god fine, lets go." She turned to leave the room. Craig quickly stood back up and followed her.

"Did you see that, they had some nerve. I should of slapped them for that one," Daniel said.

Lena managed a weak smile, "thanks."

Daniel frowned, "what for?"

"I wanted to say something, but it would of seemed petty," Lena replied.

"Well it wouldn't of been, they shouldn't of asked while you were around," Daniel said.

Lena stood up, "yeah well, like I said before, thanks." She walked through the door, and stepped onto the bridge. "Bryan, take us here," she said as she handed Bryan the PADD.

"Yes ma'am," Bryan said as he looked at the PADD.

"What did you just call me?" Lena snapped. Everyone looked at her looking nervous.

Bryan looked up at her with wide eyes, "uh I said ma'am, would you rather have Captain or sir then?"

Lena sighed, "sorry, I didn't mean.." She walked over to sit in her chair.

Daniel appeared in the Ready Room doorway, "I take it we're going now then."

"We're going," Lena replied.

Tom frowned, "where?"

"The next game site, it should be easier to land there," Daniel replied.

"It better be, we don't want a repeat performance," Tom muttered.

Bryan turned his chair around, "um can I just ask one question?"

"Sure why not," Lena replied.

"Would it kill us if we hovered underneath the cube instead of landing?" Bryan asked.

"Yes, you have to be touching the ground or standing on something that touches the ground," Lena replied.

Bryan turned his chair back around, "crap."

"Why, what's up?" Tom questioned.

"Well the landing site is another big city," Bryan replied.

Everyone turned to glare at Daniel. "No I know what I did wrong last time, we can land somewhere in that city, promise."

"Actually bleach boy is right," Triah said.

"Oh look, Mary Poppins just floated passed the viewscreen," Jessie said.

Bryan looked up, "cool, oh did I miss it?"

"Why do I always get insulted by you lot?" Daniel grumbled.

"You're right, we're sorry," Tom said.

"From now on we'll stick to insulting Tom," Jessie said.

"Yeah.. hey!" Tom snapped.

"Excuse me!" Triah yelled to get everyone's attention. "We can land here, there's enough room for both ships.."

"See, I know what I'm doing," Daniel smugly said.

"We just have to destroy a few buildings," Triah finished off.

"What, that's not right," Daniel muttered.

Triah shrugged, "it's ok, the city's abandoned anyway."

"It is? That's weird," Bryan said.

"Ah I've got it, this time for sure," Triah said. Lena groaned, she made her way over to stand behind her. "Look I'll put the new landing spot on the viewscreen."

The viewscreen changed from space view to city view. Some of the buildings looked like they were ready to fall down, some already had. Nearby most of the damage was a large square shaped clear area.

"Zoom in on the landing spot," Lena ordered.

The city view quickly changed to show a massive hole in the ground, buildings and structures that were obviously around the edge of it were basically just wreckage.

"Triah, our landing spot is an old Game's landing spot," Lena said.

"So?" Triah said.

"So check the co-ordinates, there's no way in hell a Game Cube would land in the exact place twice," Lena said.

"I never said it would land in that hole, it'll land near the hole. We'll probably have to give some of the remaining buildings a nudge to make room for the Equinox," Triah said.

"How do you suggest we do that?" Tom questioned.

"Phasers are ready, just a suggestion," Jessie replied.

Tom rolled his eyes, "are we sure there's no one around, on the planet for that matter."

"It's the only city on this planet, it's like a new colony. Well was, it looks like it's been left for years," Triah said.

"Ok Jess, fire phasers," Lena ordered.

"Finally, I have phaser firing withdrawal symptoms," Jessie commented.

Tom looked nervous, "thank god, the withdrawal symptoms are usually hitting me over the head with a tricorder."

**Later, Transporter Room Two:**  
James walked through the door. Jessie, Faye, Daniel and Tom were waiting around.

"What's this all about anyway?" Faye asked.

"I'm curious about this colony. One cube lands and everyone takes off, it's weird isn't it," Tom replied.

Jessie folded her arms, "oh please only an idiot would think that. You move to a new colony on a brand spanking new planet, you see one weird cube thing take a chunk out of the colony, do you stick around?"

Tom shifted his eyes nervously, "well yes." Everyone stared at him with raised eyebrows. "If I was a Slayer and or knew what the hell it was."

"Please tell me you've changed your mind then," James said.

"Oh no. The Equinox has been nicking most of our food supplies, and I for one am sick of eating fried Leola root left overs and other junk," Tom muttered.

"Oh crap," Daniel grumbled. He and Faye handed over some rations to James.

Jessie glanced at the rations in James' hands, "uh, you made a bet?"

James glanced at her, "what, I've killed people and you're bothered about me gambling? I'm going to hell anyway."

"No I'm just wondering what you bet on exactly," Jessie said.

"We bet on the mission, you know to pass the time," Faye said.

Tom frowned, "what, am I that predictable?"

Daniel shrugged, "maybe, I think it should of been mine though."

Faye rolled her eyes, "oh please, Tom wouldn't want to lead a mission to the planet to battle with leftover Softmicron."

"Hey, I would," Tom moaned.

The rest of the group laughed. "She has a point Dan," Jessie said.

"I only said it cos I wanted him to get stupidly hurt or killed," Daniel muttered.

"Hey!" Tom moaned. Everyone looked at him. "We're going to this planet and we're going to do something more rewarding than fight egg like creatures."

"We're not going to pick up really old food, oh darn," Jessie sarcastically said.

"No we're doing that, it is an advanced colony so it will be edible," Tom said. He stepped onto the transporter pad, "so come on then."

James counted the rations he had, "ok there isn't enough to get the whole family out of broth soup so.. anyone want to bet on what's going to happen?"

"Oh please," Daniel laughed. "We're not that stupid."

"I'm in," Faye blurted out. Daniel glared at her, "what, I hate broth."

**The planet surface:**  
The awayteam rematerialised in the middle of a wide road. Nearby them were overturned vehicles, some were still on fire. A few bodies were scattered around the area.

"I see why Lena's not leading this mission," Jessie said as she glanced around.

Faye turned around, she tripped over something on the ground. "Eew, eew.."

Everyone glanced over at her. Tom pulled out a tricorder, "hmm interesting."

"No, it's gross," Faye grumbled.

Tom knelt down next to what she had tripped over, which was in fact a young woman. "She hasn't been dead long, I'd say about a few days."

"And a Game is going to land again after a few days, something's not right here," James said.

Daniel walked over to one of the burning cars. He used the fire to light a tab, "maybe some people didn't leave the planet right after the game. Some might of stuck around."

"So, how did they die then? They weren't near the game and everyone knows a game vaporises your body or takes you into the Games Matrix," Jessie said.

"Beats the hell out of me," Tom said, standing up.

"Ok I'll do it," James said.

Tom stared at him, "I said it beats the hell out of me, as in I don't know."

James rolled his eyes, "I knew what you meant."

"Maybe somebody went crazy and killed everyone," Faye said.

James shook his head, "you're only saying that because you bet on us getting attacked by a psycho."

"Uh guys!" Daniel raised his voice to get everyone's attention. The others looked towards him. "We have company."

"No we don't," Tom muttered.

Daniel stared at him, "don't play games with me, don't you see her?"

"See who Daniel?" Faye asked.

Daniel groaned, he pointed down the street. "There, don't you see her!"

"Yeah, they're dead bodies, we saw those before," James said.

"She's perfectly fine, she's standing right there!" Daniel snapped.

"It begins," Faye whispered.

"Hey come back," Daniel muttered. He ran down the street.

"He's going to get weapons and kill us, pay up," Faye said.

"No," James muttered.

Tom shook his head, "we'd better follow him."

"God, I won, you lost, I want my money back!" Faye snapped.

"Well we haven't got attacked by a psycho yet, so no," James said.

Tom groaned, he and Jessie started to go down the street.

"Oh I get it, I'll get attacked by you instead. Pay up," Faye said.

"No," James said. He began to follow the others.

Faye pouted, "but.. no fair."

**Meanwhile:**  
Daniel pushed open a door, it came off one of it's hinges so it got all crooked. He walked slowly into the room, "um, little girl? Crap where did she go?"

The others came through the door. "Gee, this is a big dump," Tom commented.

"Ok Daniel, have you finished being crazy?" Faye asked.

Daniel snorted, "you guys are the crazy ones, you didn't see her."

"Exactly, that means you're the crazy one," Faye said.

Tom sighed, "this could go on all day. Look lets find a shop or something, they'll have some food hopefully."

"What do you expect to find in a part of town like this, a sweet shop?" James questioned.

"Nah, he's looking for a shop that sells women's clothes," Jessie said.

Tom pulled a face at her, "you can talk, you've probably never stepped in a woman's clothes shop in your life."

Jessie glared icily at him, James had to hold her back. "Hey wait, why am I holding you back?" he asked himself, then he let go. Jessie jumped onto Tom and started beating him up.

A slamming sound made everyone stop what they were doing. Faye glanced towards the doorway, "uh, who closed the door?"

"I didn't," James replied.

Jessie shrugged, "I was busy so.." She continued what she was doing.

Tom only answered with a few "ow" and "hey" every now and then.

"I was over here," Daniel replied.

James rolled his eyes, "what's the big deal, it was probably only the wind." He walked over to the door, he tried to open it up but it wouldn't budge.

"Uh nobody bet on us getting trapped in a building, so who gets the rations?" Faye asked nervously.

**The Equinox Bridge:**  
The senior staff, excluding Ransom, were having a mini meeting at one side of the room. Ransom was busy at the other side of the room.

"Oh I dunno, I like my new job," Noah muttered.

"What, serving stupid cocktails and frying anything in sight is more interesting than.." Max grumbled, he glanced over at Ransom briefly. "I need you in this Noah."

"I think you're making a big deal out of nothing, Max. We're going in Game Cubes so it's not like we're going the long way home," Marla said.

"You don't just go in one and tell the Games Matrix where you want to go next," Max muttered.

"With a watcher on our fleet we don't need to," Marla said.

"Yes and while we wait for a cube to take us home or just closer we get slaughtered by shapeshifters. I'd rather kill them before they kill us," Max said.

"Don't you know anything Max? We have Slayers to do the protecting," Noah said.

"Oh yes, great, I feel lots better now. One is a confused little girl who's not at all bright. Her 'partner' is some short and gay looking guy who doesn't seem like he could kill a fly let alone a whole army of Softmicron. The last one is some creepy looking girl who dates that other idiot with the blonde hair," Max rambled.

"In all fairness the girl has just lost her daughter recently, and the guy's kinda cute," Marla said.

Max stared blankly at her, "my god woman."

"Isn't there a rule that says that Slayers can't even have kids?" Noah questioned.

"Yes, finally. See what we've got protecting us everytime we get on a cube, it's not as safe as catching a bus home," Max grumbled.

"What does having kids got to do with their strengths and stuff, they're still Slayers," Marla said.

"Well they're both obviously soft as muck, I have to admit though the pale girl is ok," Max said.

"Ok you want to separate from the Enterprise, how do you plan to do that? They already don't trust us," Noah asked.

"What, you think I'd tell you guys without actually having a plan. Just follow my lead," Max smiled deviously.

**The surface:**  
"This is just great, can't you just break the door down or smash a window?" Jessie questioned.

Tom pulled himself up off the ground, complete with a black eye and a broken nose. "Wow one second you're back to normal, the next you're getting your guy to do everything for you."

James glanced behind him, "Tom, do you want another black eye?"

"See, that's what I mean exactly," Tom said. Jessie kicked him in the back of the leg, he fell back over.

James turned back to the others, "ok I hope you left some for me Jess."

"Oh come on, a normal person can break a window," Faye moaned.

"Don't you think I tried? Some shield is blocking the window and something has sealed the door shut," James said.

"What has beating up Tom got to do with this anyway, Daniel was the one who lead us in here," Faye said.

Daniel rolled his eyes, "you didn't have to follow me."

"Yes but it was Tom's idea to come down here," James said.

Jessie rolled her eyes, "that's just great. The game will come and take the ships away, leaving us here for the rest of our lives. Good going Tom."

Tom pulled himself back up, "hey stop blaming me for it all, it's Daniel's fault too!"

"There must be a way to get out," Daniel said.

"There should be. That window's blocked by a shield so there must be a way to cut off the power for it, plus if we find a sharp object we could break the door apart," James said.

"Can't you just kick or punch it really hard?" Tom asked.

James stared blankly at him, "it's a metal door."

"Yes but you can bend metal and stuff," Tom said.

"I can't bend a closed door you idiot, denting it will do no good," James muttered.

"Ok so how's a weapon going to cut into metal?" Tom asked.

"This is not a game of twenty questions Tom, lets just look around ok," James said.

"Oh that's a thought, would any games have a question type game? I mean Slayers aren't usually smart so how would they win, beat up the host?" Tom said, laughing slightly.

"Can we split up?" Daniel asked.

"Love to, but someone will get stuck with him," Faye replied.

"I call one of the team leaders," James quickly said.

"Me too," Faye said with a grin.

"Damn," Daniel grumbled.

Tom looked annoyed, "Faye can't be a team leader, I have to be a team leader."

"You didn't call it," Faye said, she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Ok I pick first since I called it first," James said. "Jessie."

"Cool I was picked first for once," Jessie said.

"Only cos you're sleeping with the leader," Tom grumbled.

Jessie tried not to laugh, "ooh, sounded a bit jealous there."

Tom and James' eyes widened in horror. "Oh god no, even if I was gay I wouldn't," Tom muttered.

"Of course you wouldn't, I wouldn't even look at you if I was," James muttered.

Tom put his hands on his hips, "oh yeah, am I not good enough for you or something?"

"Damn I wish I had a video camera," Daniel grinned. James and Tom glared at him.

Faye shook it off, "anyway, I choose Daniel."

"Ok babe," Daniel said. He stood next to Faye and put his arm around her shoulders.

She pushed it off, "eew no."

"Great, is this a mixed shippers scene or what?" Jessie said, giggling slightly.

James ignored her, "ok um, Faye you take Tom."

"No way, you wanted to choose first so it's your turn again," Faye said.

"Son of a bitch," James grumbled.

"Oh no, I'm not going with those two, especially after that," Tom said.

"It's ok, cos I choose me," James smugly said.

Faye smiled in the same way, "I choose me as well."

James glared at her, "look just take him, please!"

"No, I can't stand him," Faye moaned.

"Neither can I," James said.

"Well I can't punch him or anything, I am not really a puncher," Faye said.

Daniel groaned, "ok lets settle this as mature adults. Rock, paper, scissors?"

**A little while later:**  
Tom, James and Jessie were now going down a dark and damp corridor. Tom was of course limping behind them.

"Ow, ow," he moaned.

"Shut up will you," Jessie groaned.

"Well you kicked me, what do you expect?" Tom snapped.

"I expect you to shut up and stop being a baby," Jessie replied.

"Woah, deja vu," James muttered.

Jessie and Tom both stopped. "What?" Jessie questioned.

James stopped too, he turned around to look at them, "no, you said 'shut up and stop being a baby', that was familiar."

"Oh great, now I'm starting to sound like his dad," Jessie grumbled. She elbowed Tom in the ribs, "thanks a lot moron."

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get beaten up by you," Tom muttered.

**Meanwhile:**  
Faye and Daniel stepped into a large room filled with desks and chairs. They both split up to search the room.

"Well now I know why this place is so creepy, it's a school," Faye said.

Daniel knelt down to go through the front desk's drawers, "lets hope the teacher was a psycho, we could do with a good sharp object."

"We're going to need a kitchen for that," Faye said. She turned around to look out the window, she placed her hand near it but a shield blocked her. "Great, all the windows are like this."

"We're upstairs anyway. Unless you've gotten over your fear of getting just a little scratch, I wouldn't recommend it," Daniel muttered.

Faye stared out of the window, "ok this is weird."

"What?" Daniel said, looking up from the desk.

Faye didn't answer him. In the street below them one young girl was skipping with a rope, chanting something as she did.

******TO BE CONTINUED******


	2. Chapter 2

**Stop or Die**

**Written //** 26th, 28th & 29th February 2004

------------

Tom limped into one room, it appeared to be a small bedroom. The room had children's toys scattered around the floor, there was also a few school books lying on a bed.

"Ok, I doubt there's anything in here that's useful," James said as he joined him in the room.

Tom headed for the bed, he picked up a small book. "Maybe but I am curious.."

"My god, you don't change do you? You're even nosey about people you don't even know and are dead," Jessie commented from the doorway.

Tom opened up the book, "I'll go to the last entry, it may tell us what's going on here."

"In a kid's diary? Right," James said.

Jessie frowned, "what's that?"

"Hmm this is interesting," Tom muttered, ignoring Jessie and not noticing the book floating in the air nearby.

James glanced back at Jessie, "ok this place is weird." She nodded her head.

"Guys stop babbling, I'm trying to concentrate," Tom snapped. The book then hit him in the head, he fell onto the ground unconscious. The book then flew towards the door, Jessie ducked in time so it crashed into the wall behind her.

"Obviously the owner of the diary is sticking around and hates people reading it," Jessie said.

James sighed, "my headache's already starting to go away, should we leave him?"

Tom groaned into the carpet, he pulled himself up. "Ow, that hurts."

"God, doesn't he ever stay unconscious for very long?" Jessie muttered.

Tom stood up looking confused, he eyed James and Jessie, as he did his eyes widened. "Who are you people, what are you doing here?"

"Ok, lets hope that's amnesia," James said quietly. Jessie nodded her head again.

Tom ran over to the table, he picked up one of the big teddy bears and hugged it close to his chest. "Go away, this is my room."

"Crap," Jessie grumbled.

James just smiled, "what's so bad about it, this is good."

Tom pouted, he stamped his foot several times, "who are you people?"

"All right, who are you first?" James asked.

Tom ran over, he jumped onto the bed, "I'm Lydia."

"You're right this is good, he seems girlier than usual," Jessie said.

"Now who are you?" Tom asked.

"Ok, I'm James, and this is Jessie," James replied. Jessie smiled and waved. "What happened here?"

"I dunno, everyone went mad and left," Tom replied. He looked out the window, "then these cute things came and killed everyone who was left."

"Do you know what's blocking us in the building?" Jessie asked.

Tom shook his head, "I don't know what you're talking about."

James headed for another door, he opened it up as Jessie stepped into the room. "So these cute things killed everyone, how did you get away?"

"I don't remember that part, it's blurry," Tom replied.

"Um I don't think she did," James said quietly as he walked back over to Jessie.

Jessie looked confused, "why do you.. oh. Right."

"I remember a big pretty square thing coming down from the sky, afterwards everything went crazy. Buildings were destroyed, some were just damaged by the falling ones. I remember people screaming, after it all finished they all left. We only came here a few months before it," Tom said.

"If everyone were scared off from this thing, why did some people like you stay behind?" James asked.

"We were going to leave, there wasn't enough room on the ship. We came here on two ships but one disappeared, it probably was destroyed," Tom replied.

"Well Tom will be happy about the mystery being solved, but we still need to get out of here," Jessie said.

"Lydia, do you know where a kitchen is or maybe even a place where the adults kept stuff you weren't allowed to see?" James questioned.

"Downstairs there's a kitchen, underground there's a place we weren't allowed in and.." Tom replied. He glanced around nervously, "no, I didn't do anything."

"We didn't say you did," Jessie said.

Tom glanced back at them, "no you don't understand, they're after me."

"Who are?" James asked.

"I wasn't going to tell them anything, I swear!" Tom yelled. He screamed, then fell unconscious again.

"Ookay, that was weird," Jessie muttered.

Once again Tom regained consciousness quickly, "what the hell was that?"

"You got possessed," Jessie replied.

Tom groaned, "that's just great."

"I wonder how the girl didn't notice she was in a guy's body, Jess," James said while trying to keep a straight face.

Tom's eyes widened, "I was possessed by a girl!"

"Yeah that is a mystery," Jessie said, also trying to keep a straight face.

Tom groaned, "you two are sick and mean."

"Look I'm going to go and find the others, we know where to go now," James said. He headed for the door.

"Hey wait," Jessie said. He stopped just outside. "That's never a good idea and you know it."

"You just don't want to be left with Tom," James said.

Jessie glanced at Tom, he just pulled another face. "Can't a girl just be worried about her husband?"

"Whatever but either way I wont be long, ok," James said. He disappeared down the corridor.

**The Equinox:**  
The bridge was busier than usual. Noah and Bryan were working nearby the helm, Max was probably scheming away in his chair, Annika was annoying Ransom nearby Tactical, and Marla was sitting on her own at one of the science stations.

"That team should be back by now, why aren't they?" Max muttered.

"I don't know, why are you so anxious about that?" Marla said, eyeing him suspiciously.

"I'm concerned, we need our watcher.. and one of our so called Slayers," Max replied, glaring in her direction.

"It's not so much the colour, it's the curliness. It's just so wrong, you should either get a shaved look or maybe straighten it," Annika said.

Ransom groaned, "whatever, what's this got to do with Astrometrics anyway?"

"Well you can't go places with that haircut so it has a lot to do with it," Annika replied.

"This shouldn't be taking so long," Max grumbled.

"Hey chill, the game's not due for another hour," Noah said.

Max stood up, he walked over to Marla. "Do we know for sure that the game is due then?"

"Yes, I thought you didn't care for going in this game," Marla replied.

"Oh we are going in it, it's our friends that are not going in it," Max said.

**The surface:**  
James reached the stairs, he was about to go down them when he noticed a small boy at the bottom of them, staring at him. "Ookay," he muttered.

"You'll never get away with it, you know. We will haunt you," the boy said.

James slowly headed down the stairs, "uh, get away with what?"

"Don't pretend you don't know," the boy replied.

"Ok I don't," James said carefully. He got to the bottom of the stairs.

The boy stepped closer to him, "you're one of them aren't you? I feel it, you'll do."

"Ok I'm not in the mood to be creeped out," James said, walking away.

The boy turned around and started following him, "you're not getting away that easily." He disappeared.

James stopped in his tracks, "told you."

**The surface:**  
Daniel and Faye were busy looking around a large kitchen. Faye opened up a drawer, she picked up a very large knife. Daniel looked briefly at her and noticed her passing the knife a stare that Emma would give a knife that big.

"Uh, put that down slowly," he muttered.

Faye's eyes went back to normal, "what? It's just a cool knife."

Daniel shook his head, "leave it there, we'll need it. I can see you're one of those potential psychopaths, I'll have to carry it."

Faye tried to look innocent, "I'm not a potential psychopath."

"Someone order a psychopath?" James said from the doorway.

"Faye was about to kill everyone with that knife but I stopped her," Daniel said.

"I wasn't," Faye muttered.

"Why aren't you with your team?" Daniel asked.

"I found something, maybe we should check it out," James replied.

Daniel shrugged, "fine, Faye's got her big knife so she'll be ok." He and James left the room, Faye stared after them looking worried.

**A little while later:**  
Jessie knelt down, "so what do you think it is?"

"I don't know, maybe my female body-mate threw it out here," Tom grumbled.

Jessie picked up a small round device, "well it could be a ball, a very weird one at that."

**Meanwhile:**  
James walked back into the kitchen, Faye eyed him nervously. "Ok, where's Daniel?"

"He went with um.. Jessie and Tom," James replied.

Faye nodded her head, she slowly reached for the knife, "that's great really, who are you?"

"What are you talking about?" James muttered.

Faye took a hold of the knife, "what did you do with Daniel?"

"Oh please," James laughed. "Do you want to die now or later?" He started to walk closer to her.

Faye looked around nervously, "great, after this that body owes me some rations." She put down the knife.

"It wouldn't of made a difference anyway, I would of took you and plus you would of done me a favour," James said. Faye picked up a pan instead, she threw it at him, it totally missed him and hit against the wall. "Good shot."

"I was never that good at throwing things," Faye muttered to herself.

"This is quite ironic, don't you think?" James said.

Faye looked confused, "um, how is it ironic?"

James was now just a few inches away from her, "you don't get it. That's ok I guess, it just means I don't have to kill you yet."

"Oh that's great, kinda," Faye stuttered. He punched her in the face, she fell unconscious.

"I still wanted to hurt you though," he said, heading back to the door.

**Meanwhile again:**  
Tom snatched the device out of Jessie's hands, "I'd be careful, it might be a bomb."

"And you snatch it off me, that's smart," Jessie muttered.

Tom glanced at her, "well somebody needs to diffuse it." He eyed it for a little while, afterwards he tried to pull it apart.

The pair failed to notice James come around the corner. "What are you doing, it might blow up if you do that," Jessie said.

Tom ignored her, he managed to pull apart the ball. Both pieces went flying in opposite directions. Several small pieces fell to the ground nearby his feet. "Oops, I think it worked."

Jessie raised her eyebrow, "is there anything else you want to break?"

Tom turned around, "where did the pieces all go." He then caught sight of James, "hey, where's Daniel and Faye?"

James looked confused, "what.. how did you two get ahead of me?"

"Maybe you're going around in circles," Jessie replied.

"No I don't think so, it's a big building and I was walking for a little while," James said. He looked behind him, "that's weird, where's the stairs?"

"Um about two minutes behind us, are you ok?" Jessie replied, looking concerned.

"Nothing, that kid must of creeped me out and I just forgot," James said.

Tom shifted his eyes nervously, "what kid, the girl.. man that girl is annoying."

"No it was a lad, he was a little.. no a lot less friendly and.." James said.

A cupboard door nearby opened, Daniel stumbled out of it. He held his face as it had a big bruise on it, "ugh, what is the point in giving random idiots super strength, when they're just going to punch the people on their side."

"Daniel, what are you doing in a cupboard?" James asked.

Daniel eyed him, "there you are, you son of a.." He rushed over to James but Jessie blocked his way.

"Hey, what's going on?" she asked.

"He told me he found something to get me away from Faye, then he punched me," Daniel snapped.

"What, no I didn't," James muttered.

"Are you sure?" Jessie asked Daniel carefully.

Daniel glared at her, pointing at the bruise on his face, "well yeah, I think I'm sure."

Jessie shrugged, "I could of done that." The guys all stared at her. "But I didn't."

Tom folded his arms, "here's a thought, maybe that girl got violent and decided to posses you."

"No she seemed so sweet, cute and girly," Jessie said, trying to keep a straight face.

Tom pouted angrily, "one day Jess, I'll get you back."

"Ok lets just clear one thing up, he wasn't possessed by a sweet little girl, he was possessed by his psycho evil self minus the coloured eyes," Daniel grumbled.

"This is very creepy, obviously the girl isn't the only thing around here," Jessie said.

Faye stumbled around the corner, sporting a brand new bruise, "oh somebody cut my head off. I'm so sick of getting punched by that guy."

Everyone glanced in James' direction, he was even more confused than before. "What, I didn't do it!"

"No you didn't," Faye said, leaning on the wall for support. "When you came into the room I heard another voice in your head."

"Was it a sweet, cute and annoying girl?" Tom asked.

"Uh no, a sweet, cute and annoying girl wouldn't knock me unconscious," Faye muttered in response.

"So I was possessed, that's a relief," James said.

"Yes a relief for you," Daniel grumbled.

"I think we should get out of here fast, whoever was in him was very angry and wants to kill us all," Faye said.

Tom frowned, "are you sure it wasn't James on a bad day?"

"Oh please, when I'm evil I don't want to kill everyone," James muttered. Everyone glanced at him again. "There's one or two people I don't want to kill, stop looking at me funny."

**The Equinox:**  
Marla walked over to Ransom and Annika. "Sir, I must talk to you.. we need to get to the Enterprise fast."

"Oh my goodness, do you want me to sort that hair out honey?" Annika gasped.

Ransom rolled his eyes, "ignore her, she's weird. Why do we need to go aboard the Enterprise?"

"Because Max is up to something, he wants to leave the Enterprise behind and continue the slaughter," Marla replied.

"If that's the case we shouldn't leave the Equinox," Ransom said.

"Well we can't contact them, he'll notice," Marla said.

"Sir, the sky is getting all Game Cubey," Noah said.

Max smiled, "great it's early."

"But what about that watcher guy?" Noah questioned.

"We don't need him after all," Max replied. He pulled out a phaser, "ok everyone, move and this'll kill you. It's on wide spread."

"What the hell are you doing?" Ransom asked roughly.

"I'm taking over this ship, my so called crewmates can't seem to think straight so it looks like it's just me in this," Max replied.

"You can't do this Max, you know it's wrong," Ransom said.

"I know it'll work. If any of you want to chicken it out on the Enterprise, that's fine with me," Max said. He made his way over to one station, he keyed in a few commands. "Who's with me then?"

Annika got all gooey eyed, "oh what a cutie, I didn't notice that."

Bryan raised his hand, "uh question.. don't think I'm with you or.."

"Fine," Max smiled. He pressed a few more commands, Ransom, Marla and Noah dematerialised.

"I said I wasn't with you, I was asking a question," Bryan grumbled.

"Tough you're with me now," Max said.

**The Enterprise:**  
"That's weird," Craig muttered.

Lena glanced back at him, "what is?"

"The Equinox is powering weapons and raising shields," Craig replied.

"And they're hailing too, this isn't a good time is it?" Triah said.

"A Game Cube is coming, you're right this isn't a good time," Lena muttered. She stood up, "on screen."

The Equinox bridge appeared on the viewscreen. "Ok cutey I'll make this quick, I'm in a hurry after all," Max said. He started to pace his bridge, "either leave the planet voluntarily, or we'll make you leave."

"Ok firstly, don't call me cutey. Secondly, Craig fire," Lena ordered.

"Um ok," Craig said nervously. He keyed in a few commands.

The Equinox bridge shook, a console exploded. "All right Lena, play it your way," Max said. The viewscreen went back to normal.

"Maybe we should just leave, our awayteam wont get picked up by the cube," Triah said.

"Just beam them up then, I don't care if they're not finished what they're doing," Lena said.

Triah nodded, "right."

The ship shook slightly. "Max shouldn't pick a fight with us, he can barely hurt us," Lena said.

"I think you may want to rethink that Lena," Craig stuttered. The ship shook again. "He's targeting the things that are making us stand here, they could go any minute."

"What about the shields?" Lena questioned angrily.

"That's the thing.." Craig replied.

"The shields had to be lowered so I can beam up the team, the first hit got the target and knocked out the shields around that area," Triah said.

"I'm not in the mood for this, Craig fire all the torpedoes we have and knock out their weapons and shields," Lena commanded.

Craig nodded his head, "their shields are holding, just."

The ship shook again. Naomi nervously looked behind her from the helm, "oh sh..." There was a huge crashing sound, everyone were thrown to the ground as a result.

**The Equinox:**  
Bryan cringed, "oh god." The viewscreen showed the Enterprise out of balance, the front part of it had crashed to the ground while the back was still standing. The ground nearby the front looked like it was going to collapse into the hole at any minute.

"Well done unknown peeps, that should probably blow them up when the game lands only on a part of the ship," Max sneered.

Annika and Bryan glanced at each other. "That's not good right," Annika commented.

"Stupid bimbo," Bryan muttered.

"Should I continue firing sir," unknown peep 1 asked.

"No, lets just watch," Max sniggered.

**The Enterprise:**  
Lena used the helm chair to pull herself up, a few consoles behind her sparked and exploded. "Is everyone ok?"

Naomi sat up looking pained, "no.. my hair feels like it's everywhere."

Craig pulled himself off his station with a massive bruise on his forehead, "ow.. stupid console."

Triah gasped, "oh my god.. look at the mess, I hate it when this happens!"

Lena glared at her, "snap out of it Triah, or I'll do it for you." She headed over to what remained of the helm.

"What are you doing?" Naomi asked.

"Leaving," Lena replied.

"Why, you can't.. we still have crew on that ship," Craig questioned.

"The Game will emerge soon and we're slightly out of it's range. It'll hit and destroy us, oh and the ground's collapsing underneath us," Lena grumbled. She glanced back at him, "if I do this right we can land in the hole with the Equinox."

"But, that's not a good idea," Triah stuttered.

"How are we going to land in there without our front struts?" Naomi asked.

"We don't need struts, shut up and let me concentrate," Lena replied.

"Lena the ship's too big to fit in there too, that's why we cleared a bit of the city so we could land on the edge of the hole," Craig said.

Lena glared back at him, "Craig shut up, or I'll shut you up."

**The Equinox:**  
"What are they doing?" Max asked.

Everyone looked at the viewscreen. The Enterprise started raising slowly into the air, the back struts disappeared into the ship and it started to head towards them.

Max furiously punched in a few commands, "what are you doing Lena, you're going to destroy all of us doing this."

**The Enterprise:**  
"Well what can I say, I feel a bit of Evil Slayer coming on," Lena muttered.

Naomi looked nervous, "she's not serious is she?"

The turbolift doors opened slowly, a turbolift wasn't even there. James climbed out of it, Tom was right behind him. "I don't see why you had to come with me to do that, I can open a door," Tom muttered.

"Right, what's going on?" James questioned.

"Lena's going to kill us all," Triah stuttered.

"I'm not, we'll land on top of the Equinox and we'll both get in the game," Lena said.

Tom and James glanced at each other. "Holy crap, she did go evil on us," Tom muttered.

"The game's emerging, somebody do something," Craig stuttered.

"I'm not going near her," Naomi muttered.

James looked at Tom, "can you get us out of here in time?"

"I think so but Lena's.." Tom replied.

"Just wait one second," James muttered. He headed towards Lena.

"You keep the hell away from me Stuart," Lena snapped.

"Sorry Lena," James said. He was about to hit her across the head, she grabbed his arm in time. He used his other arm to grab her around the waist, he managed to just pick her up.

"James get the hell off me!" she screamed. She punched him in the head with her other hand, she grabbed a hold of his arm with the other hand. He had to let go, so she just fell to the ground. She got straight to her feet.

Tom just watched, then it kicked in, "oh right." He rushed to the helm.

"Ok Lena we're leaving," James carefully said.

Lena smiled smugly much to his surprise, "no we're not. Oh Tom, Bryan's on the Equinox."

Tom glanced at them, "what!?"

Lena punched him in the head, he fell unconscious. James just sighed, "fine." He punched her as hard as he could. Lena had as much as she could take, she ran at him, pushing them both to the ground.

"Should I take us out now?" Naomi asked quietly.

"Uh huh," Craig's eyes widened. "Game only a few seconds away."

Naomi jumped into the helm seat, she quickly keyed in a few commands. The ship shook violently, everyone but Naomi and Craig lost their balance, they managed to grab ahold of the stations. All the other stations exploded, the lights all went out afterwards.

**The Equinox:**  
"Well that was close," Max sneered.

Bryan, who was right behind him now, "ok that was just mean." He punched him in the back of the head, he fell to the ground. Bryan cringed at the pain in his hand. "Ow hard head."

**Later, the Enterprise Bridge:**  
"All right, James you're so dead," Lena groaned from the floor. She pushed some debree off her.

"I think he already is," Craig muttered from the ground nearby Tactical.

Lena looked over at James, he was lying unconscious nearby her with some debree on him too. "He's not dead."

"Wishful thinking I guess," Craig commented.

Tom woke up with the opps station on top of him, "oh crap, please tell me that we all got through a game and I missed it."

"I don't think so, I think it hit us and we went flying as a result," Craig muttered.

Tom groaned, "that's just great, thanks a lot Lena."

Lena glared at him, "I was trying to help us, I knocked you out so you wouldn't take us away from the damn thing."

"You didn't have to, I may have changed my mind," Tom grumbled. He pushed the opps station off him, "look I'm sorry Lena that you lost Kiara, I really am but you really should stop acting like a bitch, you nearly got us killed. Now I've lost my son like you lost Kiara, are you happy now?"

"I don't see why you're blaming me Paris, I was trying to get in the game as the Equinox decided to knock us out of it," Lena said. She glanced at Craig, Triah and Naomi, who were still unconscious, and then finally James. "You can blame them for panicking and not trusting me."

"Right, trying to crush the Equinox with this ship was the better option. We could of killed a lot of people doing that," Craig muttered.

Tom pulled himself to his feet, "I think I agree with him there, you could of just flown the ship into orbit Lena."

Lena rolled her eyes, "listen to yourselves, you're not making any sense while you're trying to blame me. It wasn't my fault that Bryan got in the game and you didn't Tom, the Equinox did that. I tried to get us in, he.."

"This isn't just about Bryan! You could of killed everybody with that stunt, it would of been safer if you'd just gotten us into orbit or away from the game," Tom snapped.

"Fine if that's what you think," Lena muttered. She headed for the turbolift, once she got there she turned around again. "I try my best to captain this ship well and none of you appreciate it. I give up my personal life to do this job, and even though I'm going through a difficult time I still do it. If you don't like it, you should of said so a long time ago."

"Lena, it's not like that," Craig carefully said.

"It is, I quit," Lena said. She climbed into the turbolift shaft and disappeared out of sight.

Tom looked around at everybody, "I think we should get power back on, we need to get these three to Sickbay."

Craig slowly nodded his head, "yeah."

******TO BE CONTINUED******


	3. Chapter 3

**Stop or Die**

**Written //** 26th, 28th & 29th February 2004

------------

_**First Officer's Log Stardate 5 something, right I don't see any stars in this room so Stardate 0. The Enterprise is still stranded in the abandoned city, we have managed to get power back but we're still not in any condition to leave. Luckily there wasn't that many serious casualties, but since our holo doc is malfunctioning Nikki has had a difficult time treating the wounded.**_

**Ten Forward**  
The room was mostly filled with unknown crewmembers, some were still sporting cuts and bruises. Noah was busy at the bar serving up drinks for people. Nearby Jessie and Faye were sitting at a table talking like nothing was going on.

James walked into the room, he headed over to Jessie and Faye's table. "Hey girls."

The two girls grinned. "Hey Jamesy," Faye just giggled.

Jessie stood up, she put her arm around his, he cringed and pulled away. "That's my bad arm Jess," he muttered.

"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you," Jessie said, giggling like crazy.

"Are you two drunk?" James asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Drunk? Please I don't drink," Faye replied.

"And I'm not allowed to, doccy's orders," Jessie said.

"Look I just came to check if you were ok Jess, obviously you're far from good," James said.

Jessie smiled, "yes I'm great, never better."

"Let me guess, fruit juice?" James muttered.

Jessie and Faye glanced at each other briefly. "Yes please," they both replied.

"Right I'm going to say what I want to say and leave you two hyper girls to your drinking," James said.

Faye pouted, "you said you'd get some for us."

"No I didn't," James muttered. "Now um.."

"Yeesh men these days, they don't know how to treat a lady," Jessie said, she burst out laughing.

Faye laughed but not as hard as her, "oh that's a good one."

James stared blankly at them, "uh huh, well I'll tell you later Faye ok."

"Ooh, you want to tell me something?" Faye said, she jumped to her feet. "Ok make it quick, this body needs the toilet bad."

"That's nice, I'll tell you later," James said. He rushed off.

Faye giggled again, "oh lady, that was good. Excuse me." She stumbled off in the other direction.

**The Ready Room:**  
The door chimed, Lena groaned, "come in whatever." She continued to collect her stuff.

Tom walked into the room, "what are you doing?"

Lena glared at him, "what do you think, it's not my office anymore."

"This is stupid, why are you doing this?" Tom muttered.

"It's not stupid, it makes sense. A twenty year old shouldn't be in charge of a big ship like this," Lena said.

"Not usually," Tom said.

Lena dumped some of the stuff on the table, "what is your point Tom?"

"You always do reckless things to help your crew, I knew it and for some reason I forgot that. I panicked, I got angry, Bryan's important to me and.." Tom replied.

"Look I'm sorry that he's on the Equinox ok, is this your point?" Lena said.

"No," Tom sighed. "You're a good Captain, you shouldn't quit."

Lena tried not to laugh, "that's a lie, you were right earlier."

"I don't know what to do Lena, the Equinox could be anywhere and we don't know what they're doing," Tom said.

"Oh please, you're a big boy, work it out yourself," Lena muttered. She stuffed some stuff in two boxes, she picked them up and headed for the door.

"What are you afraid of Lena?" Tom asked.

Lena stopped at the doorway, "what does fear got to with this?"

Tom turned around, "we both know that you're only quitting cos you're scared of what you're going to do next."

Lena put down the boxes, she turned around with a bemused expression on her face. "Really, what do you think I'm going to do?"

"I don't know, you're not very predictable, that's a good Captain trait," Tom replied. "You're a Slayer yet you disapproved of the Equinox killing Softmicron, you chose to compromise with them instead of locking them away or something."

"Are you getting to your point anytime soon?" Lena asked, folding her arms.

"If I were in charge at that time I would of teamed up with them, Softmicron are evil and they do deserve to die. This is a war, and you, James and Zare are suppose to be the leaders in this kind of war cos this is what you're born to do," Tom replied.

"Well when you put it that way, I should of quit a long time ago," Lena muttered.

"You didn't let me finish. You made the bad decision because you felt threatened by Ransom and his crew, they were doing your job while getting the crew home quicker. In the end it was a good decision because it led us here.." Tom said.

"Did I give you a concussion earlier?" Lena asked.

"Nope.. maybe but I know I'm right about this. Now we know what Max is capable of, we wouldn't have if we'd did it my way," Tom replied.

"Maybe but they're probably hundreds or thousands of lightyears away from us, how does that help us now?" Lena said.

"I don't know, that's why I'm here," Tom said. He sighed, "you're a strong leader, we do need you."

"Maybe I used to be, I'm not now," Lena said.

"You just have to tell me, what would you do next? At the moment I have Astrometrics searching for the Equinox, but at the moment I just have Daniel there so.." Tom said.

Lena sighed, "fine.. but after this I quit for good."

**The Equinox:**  
Max now had Bryan against the wall, he was not looking too happy. "You just punch your commanders, who do you think you are?"

"Well at least I don't chuck my Captain off the ship and attempt to destroy allied ships," Bryan muttered.

"He has a point," Annika commented.

Mas groaned, "look I'm in command and you are my crew, we will continue our quest to get home. There's no use in moaning about it."

"What was the point in the whole betraying thing, you didn't capture any of the Softmicron," Bryan questioned smugly.

"No, there's always next time. In the meantime we still can work off the one we already killed earlier," Max sneered.

The turbolift doors opened, somebody stepped off them. "I have to say, I'm impressed. It's not often I find outside forces do that much damage to the Enterprise for me."

Bryan groaned, "great, this can't get any worse."

Yasmin smiled innocently, "oh but it can, Damien's here."

Bryan and Annika glanced at each other, they both burst out laughing.

"What, what are you laughing at!?" Yasmin or rather Damien snapped.

"You had to posses a clone of Yasmin, oh that's good," Bryan laughed.

"Well it was either her or those idiots from Pokémon or Riker," Damien grumbled.

"What is this?" Max snapped.

"Oh I'm your new Captain," Damien replied.

Max laughed, "yeah right."

"Yes indeed, if you don't let me command your ship I will bring about unspeakable torment to you and your crew," Damien said while dramatic music filled the room. It abruptly stopped, "or I could just be second in command or whatever."

"I don't even know who you are," Max said.

"He's some annoying dead guy who keeps trying to destroy us," Bryan said.

"Guy, he looks rather woman like," Max muttered.

"He's dead moron, he has to posses people," Annika commented.

"Oh, throw him in the brig," Max ordered. Nobody listened to him. "That's great, what happened to my unknown peeps?" That's when he spotted all his unknown peeps lying on the ground crushed by a lot of debree.

"Well this is going to be a long trip home," Bryan said.

**The Enterprise, Astrometrics:**  
Tom, Lena, Daniel and James were standing around the same station. A chart of the quadrant was up on the large viewscreen.

"The thing is we'll not know which game the Equinox will have jumped into afterwards, all we have is guess work," Daniel was saying.

"I think we all knew that," Lena muttered.

"Yes well this galaxy and the Delta Quadrant in our galaxy is the most popular spots," Daniel said.

"That narrows it down but not by enough," Tom said.

"This is great, the Equinox could be anywhere by now. What's the point in searching for them when they're probably in the Alpha Quadrant or something," Lena said.

"Found them," James said. Everyone glanced in his direction, he glanced briefly at them. "Don't look so shocked."

"Why not?" Daniel asked.

"I second that," Tom muttered.

James rolled his eyes, "fine.. do you want to know where they are?"

"Yeah why not, then you can attempt to beat me up again when we find them," Lena muttered.

"Don't be like that, I didn't want to have to do that," James said.

Tom cleared his throat, "ah hem, discuss this later guys. Where is the ship?"

James keyed in a few commands, the chart zoomed in one system. The usual commbadge symbol hovered over one of the planets. "There. I wonder why the computer uses a commbadge instead of a picture of a ship."

"Yeah I've always wondered too," Tom commented.

Lena sighed, "this is another reason why I took command for this mission, you boys are distracted by such little things."

In: "Anderson to Stuart, guess what."

James tapped his commbadge with a groan, "I'm here, what?"

In: "No, I want you to guess."

"Ok um, murder, Faye got even more drunk and torched Ten Forward.." James said.

In: "There you got it."

"Faye torched the room? That stupid cow.. we need Ten Forward as the Mess Hall wont be open for a while," Tom muttered.

In: "Faye drunk? Riight, realistic guess James. You were right about the murder one."

"It's not so unrealistic," James muttered.

"Who got murdered this time?" Lena asked.

In: "Believe it or not, Ensign Gilmore."

"I didn't even know she was onboard," Tom said.

"I don't get it, why do you always contact me when there's a murder?" James asked.

In: "Hmph, you do that to me."

"Just to annoy you, oh right," James said. He walked out of the room.

Lena glanced at Tom, "set a course for that planet."

Tom nodded his head, "right. It's kinda funny that they didn't get far away from us after all that trouble."

Lena shrugged, "I should of saw that coming. They don't have a watcher and the Softmicron are probably peed off at them for killing some of them."

"Is that why we can't ever get a cube home? Cos they don't like Slayers," Tom questioned.

"I doubt it, we wouldn't keep getting closer if that were the case. They probably can recognise the ship," Lena replied.

"Ah but they'd recognise Voyager and the Enterprise too," Tom said.

"Yeah true," Lena said.

**Deck Ten:**  
A few unknown peeps.. oh sorry crewmembers were carrying Marla's body away when James arrived on the scene. "So do you copy off everything I do Craig?" he asked.

Craig shrugged, "well it annoys you doesn't it?"

"Not really, I was just wondering," James replied.

"She was stabbed by the way," Zare butted in.

"You'd think people would use more up to date weapons these days," Craig said.

"Older weapons like knives are more effective, believe me I know," James said.

"You could put a phaser on vaporise. Besides a lot of crewmembers have been stabbed and easily brought back. It's not as effective as you think," Craig said.

Zare narrowed her eyes at James, "believe you, you know huh. Did you do it?"

"Don't be stupid," James muttered.

"He's right, it would be too predictable if it were him," Craig said.

"The word you're looking for is repetitive," Zare said. Craig looked confused.

"Thanks Zare, you made me feel a lot better," James said.

"Oh dear, bad day or something?" Zare questioned.

"Well in case you didn't hear, Lena and I had a fight.." James replied.

"So what else is new?" Zare muttered.

"Not the argument kind," James said.

"Oh right," Zare said.

"So Lena's mad at you, so what," Craig said.

Zare looked at the guys, all nervous, "oh great, there will be another murder very soon."

Craig frowned, "uh why? How do you know that?"

"Think about it," Zare said.

"She means Lena will probably try to murder me as soon as we're alone," James said.

Craig tried not to laugh, "it can't be that bad."

"Yeah, you two will make up quickly," Zare said.

"You didn't see her on the bridge yesterday, I've never seen her that mad," James said.

Zare shook her head, "typical. My brother used to drive me mad too, what is it with you men?"

"Hey, she was mad before I even did anything," James muttered.

Zare glanced at Craig, "oh.. the whole Kiara thing is getting to her I suppose."

James glanced at the wall, "yeah."

Craig knelt down, "she'll get over it eventually and before you know it Kiara will be back."

"I don't think I helped at all," James muttered.

Zare shook her head, "no I'd imagine not, the last thing she needs is her brother attacking her for no reason."

"No the last thing she needed was to kill the entire Equinox crew," James said.

"What?" Zare said.

"It's true, she was so insistent in getting in that cube she was willing to crush the Equinox to land under the damn thing," Craig said.

"So that's why you two fought, you tried to stop her?" Zare questioned.

James nodded his head, "yeah, but as you know it didn't go so well."

"I'll say, we still got hit by the game but in a bad way," Zare muttered.

Craig stood back up, "I've got some hair samples, we can do a DNA test."

"It seems like the only thing we do these days," James muttered.

"Well if you want to lock everyone in the brig, go ahead," Craig said.

"Wait one second," James said.

Zare and Craig glanced at him. Zare grew impatient, "we're waiting."

"It's just a theory, no I don't think so," James muttered to himself.

"What's the theory? We've got to do something in the meantime, Nikki will take a lot longer than Freddie to do the test," Craig questioned.

"Tom and I were possessed on the planet when we got trapped in a building. The one I got possessed by decided to knock out Daniel and Faye, he or she told Faye that they wanted to kill us all," James replied.

"Ah good old possession murders, you've got to respect the classics," Craig commented.

**Meanwhile:**  
"Yes and I wanted to stop him but.." Ransom was saying.

Tom nodded his head, "I understand, he is a jackass isn't he?"

"Um I guess so," Ransom said.

"Sorry, he just dated my wife at one point," Tom said.

Ransom smiled, "ah."

"Ok I should stop beating around the bush, Marla is dead," Tom said.

Ransom's eyes widened, "what?"

Jessie walked into the Conference Room, "hey, you wanted to see me Tommy?"

"Oh yes, I forgot about that. I'm seeing a lot of people today," Tom said. He and Jessie sat down nearby each other leaving Ransom looking pretty annoyed.

"Er hello, is that it?" Ransom grumbled.

"This is a matter of life and death Captain, shut up for a bit," Tom snapped.

"Ooh I like these kind of conversations," Jessie said.

Ransom muttered something under his breath which ended with, "Marla is dead, the blond idiot."

Tom frowned, "is that a threat?"

Jessie laughed, "no that's later, what is it?"

"Ok these mood swings are getting to be a pain, one would think you're pregnant or something," Tom muttered.

Jessie glanced up at the ceiling in mid thought, "ah interesting." She glanced back at Tom, who was looking confused. "So is this what you wanted to see me about?"

"No no, I just wanted you to not tell anyone about the possession incident. It's kind of embarrassing," Tom replied quietly.

"Oh sure, no problem," Jessie said.

"Really?" Tom said, not believing what he was hearing.

"Of course, I wouldn't like it if I was possessed and somebody blabbed it to someone else," Jessie said.

"Oh ok, thanks Jess," Tom said.

Jessie stood back up, "is that all?"

"Uh yeah, oh tell your hubbie that he can't tell either," Tom replied.

Jessie winked at him, "sure thing, check." She left the room giggling a little.

Tom looked rather scared, "um that was interesting."

"Will you tell me the rest of the story?" Ransom asked.

"What story?" Tom frowned, it then hit him. "Oh yeah, she was murdered. We're investigating."

"Good, I'm not happy about this, I didn't like her so I'm kind of confused," Ransom said.

"You're her Captain, I'm sure Lena would feel bad if I died," Tom said. He and Ransom heard laughing from behind the door. "Or maybe not."

Lena then walked into the room, "oh Tom that was a good joke, thanks for cheering me up."

"Hey I'd be angry if you died, along with anyone else I know," Tom muttered.

"Even James?" Lena questioned.

"Maybe, but he's died so many times, it just doesn't hit you as much a second, third.. etc time," Tom replied.

"He's not Annika, he doesn't die every episode he's in does he, or nearly to be more accurate," Lena said.

Tom shrugged, "you're in a better mood, what's the deal?"

"We've found the Equinox, I've got a plan and I had a few drinks," Lena replied.

Tom's face turned pale, "oh crap."

Ransom headed for the door, "I'd better be going, let me know when you find out who the murderer is." He left the room.

Tom was far from happy, "you've been drinking? This is a dangerous situation, our Captain can't be drunk."

"I'm not drunk!" Lena yelled. She wobbled slightly, "oh maybe I am, but hey I had three drinks so at least I don't get drunk from one glass anymore."

"That's it, we're going to Sickbay to get you sobered up," Tom said. He took a hold of Lena's arm, she pulled it away straight away.

"Hear me out first. We run into the Equinox, kick their ass, get their shields lowered, beam out our crew and then blow them to bits," Lena said.

Tom's eyes widened, "that's not a good plan."

Lena glared at him, but she was not at her glaring best, "it's a very good plan. Tell me what's wrong with it."

"Well you seem pretty obsessed with killing these people," Tom replied.

"I don't want to kill them but they tried to kill us so it's fair," Lena said.

Tom sighed, "ok this is why you've got a first officer Lena, I have to be objective when the Captain makes up a bad plan." Lena pouted, she looked up at him like a child would if she'd gotten into trouble. "And when they're drunk. Why don't we just get up to the beaming crew out and deal with it without killing the Equinox crew?"

"No, I'm a Slayer and I am allowed to kill them!" Lena yelled. She stumbled a bit. "You're just some weak ponce who can't even command a ship without a twenty year old's help!"

"Ok that hurt," Tom muttered.

"Not as much as my fist will when it reaches your face," Lena grumbled.

Tom rolled his eyes, "Slayers don't, or they shouldn't, kill normal mortals. They're only suppose to kill vampires, demons and fight games."

"Why give me a lecture, James kills people," Lena muttered.

"Yes and you always try to stop him, remember," Tom said.

"I don't think I like your tone. I am a strong and pretty girl who can kick your butt, I say we go and kill those annoying people," Lena muttered. She turned towards the door, not without stumbling slightly of course.

She walked towards the door, it opened automatically. She turned back around, "if you don't like it, go and set my brother onto me again. Bring him on.. I can kick his butt too, I can kick anyone's butt cos I'm the best Slayer there is." She walked out of the room, she tripped over something on the ground and fell to the ground.

Tom groaned, he headed towards the door. His eyes widened in shock when he caught sight of what she had tripped over. Lena sat up, looking more annoyed than before. She also caught sight of what she had tripped over, she fainted as a result.

"That's new," Tom muttered.

**Sickbay:**  
Nikki closed the tricorder, "I can't, he lost too much blood."

"You can get donors Nik," Tom said.

"Oh," Nikki blushed, she rushed over to the nearby station.

"This is looking more and more like someone's out to kill Equinox people," Craig said.

"Yeah but why Ransom and Gilmore, they were the only ones who got off that ship when the betrayal happened," Zare questioned.

"Wait, what about Noah?" Craig said in a panicky voice.

"I'll get him," Zare said, she ran out of the room. She ran back in a few seconds later, "which one's Noah?"

"Two words Zar, pink apron," Craig replied.

Zare shuddered, "oh yeah that guy, I'm gone." She stepped back out.

"Lay off, I'm fine," Lena grumbled from a neighbouring biobed.

"Right, you get drunk cos you feel fine," James muttered.

Lena pushed him back a little, "for god's sake, I had one of Noah's cocktails and that's it."

"You told me you had a few," Tom said.

"Well I was drunk dumbass," Lena snapped.

"How's the DNA test going on?" Craig asked.

Nikki groaned, "I can only do a few things at once, hence the reason why the Tolg zombify billions of people instead of one for each ship."

"I'm sorry," Craig said quietly.

"Craig I've got an idea, you check the transporter logs. I just need something from here," James said.

"You're not the boss of me," Craig muttered. Lena and James stared at him. "I'll go." He rushed out of the room.

"Is that really a good idea or are you just trying to get rid of him?" Lena asked.

"Both actually," James replied.

"It's ok really, I'm better and stuff," Lena said.

James sat down beside her, "you know I'm always around if you want to talk, you know that right?"

"Yeah I do. It's not like Kiara died, she only left for a little while," Lena replied. She glanced at him with a weak smile on her face, "you'd better help Craig, this murder mystery is more important."

"Well if my theory is right then it should be sorted soon," James said.

"What is the theory?" Lena asked.

"That whatever possessed me on the planet managed to get onboard somehow," James replied.

"Oh.. good luck with that," Lena said.

******TO BE CONTINUED******


	4. Chapter 4

**Stop or Die**

**Written //** 26th, 28th & 29th February 2004

------------

**The Security Office:**  
Craig turned the computer around slightly, "there is something strange in Faye and Jessie's lifesigns during beam out, but it could be nothing more than Game Cube interference."

"Wait, it's in both of them?" James questioned.

Craig nodded his head, "yeah, what is it?"

"I'm hoping it was just that device Tom found," James replied.

"What device?" Craig asked.

"Ok maybe not then," James muttered.

"So what do you think about this?" Craig asked.

James groaned, "do I have to think of everything around here?"

"Well you're the one with all the theories and junk," Craig replied.

James walked away from the desk, he started to pace. "Ok Daniel saw somebody but we didn't, he followed her into a building, we followed him and got trapped. Tom gets possessed by a little girl who says everyone else were slaughtered by Softmicron. Then I get possessed after seeing a creepy lad.."

"Maybe some kids got abused by people and they want revenge on adults," Craig said.

"That's an.. idea," James said, while staring at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Fine," Craig pouted.

"The lad, well it was probably him, knocks Daniel out and locks him in a cupboard. He then threatens Faye that he's going to kill everyone, then knocks her out. For no reason I can think of he goes out of me before I reach Jessie and Tom. A Game Cube arrives and we're able to leave the building by beam out. Now Equinox senior staff are getting murdered, plus Jessie and Faye are acting strange," James said as he continued to pace.

"Doesn't really add together does it?" Craig muttered.

"Not really. It maybe just a coincidence that they got Ransom and Gilmore," James said as he sat back down.

"What I don't get is why was the girl in Tom being so nice, and then posses either Faye or Jessie and kill people?" Craig said.

"Maybe that one hasn't done anything, maybe she's a friend of the killer," James said.

Craig nodded his head, "maybe."

"The lad said before I got possessed that we wouldn't get away with something. Do you have any idea what that means?" James questioned.

Craig glanced at the computer, "no.. yes yes." He turned back to James. "Yes it does."

"Well, what?" James said.

Craig closed his eyes for a second, "come on work brain, I had it there for a second." James slapped him across the back of his head. "Ow hey, oh I remember now."

"Great, now I have an extra excuse to hit you from now on," James said.

Craig ignored him, "the aliens or whatever are killing Equinox people, plus they said you wouldn't get away with something. It's obvious what we're dealing with."

"Oh my god, are you saying that my wife's possessed by a Softmicron right now?" James asked.

"Not any old Softmicron, a dead one," Craig replied.

"Right, it makes sense. The girl was nice to us and didn't know who we were though," James said.

"It was probably an act to trick you guys," Craig said.

"No, she seemed too childlike. According to Faye the one that was in me had a young male voice," James said.

"And she still knew it wasn't you, that's weird," Craig muttered. James slapped him across the back of the head again. "Ok seriously, what do we do about this?"

"Well when the Enterprise catches up with the Equinox they're going to make a move, aren't they?" James replied.

Craig rubbed his sore head, "yeah so?"

"So we better do something before then," James replied.

Craig stared blankly at him, "that's not a suggestion!?"

"I know," James said.

Daniel walked into the room, "hey Stuart, did you notice that your wife's gone slightly balmy?"

"Recently yeah, what did she do?" James asked.

"Well I came up to her to ask her something, she said something about helping people and then kneed me in a certain area," Daniel replied.

"Helping people?" Craig said.

"Oh um, something like 'you are one of those helpy guys'," Daniel said.

"We think she's possessed by a dead Softmicron child," James muttered.

"Lets hope that one isn't the sweet and innocent girl, cos ouch," Craig said, crossing his legs.

Daniel sat down carefully, "what are you two on, cos I need some for the pain."

"The spirits on the planet followed us back up here, plus they're killing Equinox people," James said. "Them being young sort of explains how the Equinox managed to capture them."

"Not really, why were they even in a Game in the first place?" Craig questioned.

"They probably captured ones in the Games Matrix, Craig," James replied.

"Ok hang on. I was just kneed because a dead Softmicron brat thinks that I helped the Equinox kill her?" Daniel grumbled.

"No, you're a watcher. That's probably why," James replied.

"Oh," Daniel said.

"Oh and it's probably the lad that took over James that's in Jessie, not the girl," Craig said.

"It's a Softmicron Anderson, none of them are sweet. It could of been either of them," Daniel said.

James shook his head, "no, the one that got me is in Jessie."

"You seem sure about that," Craig said.

Right on cue Jessie walked into the room, "oh hello boys and watcher person."

Daniel frowned. "Who cares, I don't like hers," he said quietly.

"Jessie, why did you kick Daniel?" James asked carefully.

"Why not, he's annoying," Jessie replied.

"Craig, you and I better get going," James said, standing up.

"We do?" Craig said.

"Yeah, we need to continue investigating, we're getting nowhere here," James said.

Craig got it, "oh good idea." He stood up too.

Jessie looked a little amused, "was it something I said?"

"No you just reminded me by saying Daniel is annoying, we need to see Tom," James replied.

"Good one," Craig whispered.

"Oh too bad," Jessie said. She smiled, "we'll have to meet up later instead."

"Yeah, we'll do that," James said, he rushed out of the room. Craig was right behind him.

"That's one gay little Softmicron," Daniel muttered to himself.

Meanwhile James and Craig headed for the turbolift. "Ok you go and ask Tom if he brought that device he broke aboard," James said.

"Right, why?" Craig asked.

"I dunno, they had it when I turned back to normal so maybe it banishes them from the body," James replied.

Craig nodded his head, "right, what are you going to do." They both stepped into the turbolift. "Deck One."

"Pay our friend Noah a visit," James replied. "Deck Ten."

Jessie sat down on the desk, "so what are the Slayer and his sidekick up to?"

"Oh they're going to dress up for the ball, you stupid brat," Daniel muttered in response.

Jessie narrowed her eyes, she grabbed a tight grip of his hair, "ok watcher, I'm only going to ask you this one more time. What are they up to?"

Faye stepped into the room, she rolled her eyes. "Ok leave him alone."

Jessie pouted as she pulled away from Daniel, "you always spoil my fun."

"He's not going to know anything, the Slayers never seem to talk to him," Faye said.

"Oh he knows something all right," Jessie said. She pulled out one of James' knives and pointed it at Daniel's throat, "tell me now."

Daniel pretended to look scared, "ok ok, I'll tell you.."

"You'll have to do a lot better than that," Jessie grumbled, grabbing a hold of his hair again.

"Look you stupid kid, if you'll never believe me when I say I'll tell you, then what's the point?" Daniel muttered.

"Fine, what are they doing?" Jessie asked.

"Well Craig wanted to kill the hosts but James made him change his mind. They went to the transporter room so they can go back to the planet," Daniel replied.

"Come on," Faye said, she walked out of the room.

Jessie stood up, "you better not be lying." She walked out of the room too.

Daniel rolled his eyes, "well Faye's training paid off."

**The Equinox:**  
Max and Annika stepped into Sickbay, Annika was smiling a little too hard for her own good.

"So, you want to make out here?" Annika giggled.

"No, bimbo," Max muttered.

"Good, now that Bryan's on the bridge on his own, he can take over the ship," Annika said. Max raised his eyebrow. "Crap I just told you the plan, didn't I?"

"Oh please, that little kid has to deal with my new first officer," Max said.

**Meanwhile:**  
Bryan eyed a few cards in his hands, "so do you have to stay in your host until it dies?"

Damien put down a card, "duh."

"So if you don't like a host, why don't you just kill it off," Bryan said.

"It's your move," Damien muttered.

Bryan groaned, "we could of fought over command of the ship like men.. ok people, but noo, we had to play cards."

"Remember, two out of three gets to be in command," Damien smiled deviously.

"Crap," Bryan grumbled. He put down his cards, "I fold."

**Sickbay:**  
Max now had Annika restrained to one of the biobeds, he was standing beside the station near the wall. "Now I hope you like our new doc, our old one broke."

Freddie appeared in the middle of the room, "please state the.. what the hell?"

"Freddie, help me," Annika stuttered.

"You can help yourself Annie," Max sneered.

"It's Annika," Annika snapped.

"Whatever," Max grumbled. He leaned on the bed, "I'm going to get the information I need either way, it all depends on what you'd rather do."

"I am not going to talk no matter how much you hurt me," Annika said, in an over the top fake brave voice.

"What is going on here?" Freddie asked.

"I want you to extract any knowledge that can help me fight the Enterprise. They will be coming," Max replied.

"I don't understand, the Enterprise are not our enemies," Freddie said.

Max rolled his eyes, he headed back over to the station and keyed in some commands. Freddie disappeared for a second. "Now get to work doc."

"Yes sir," Freddie said. He headed over to Annika.

"What.. what are you doing?" Annika stuttered.

Freddie picked up a laser scalpel, "lets get to work shall we."

Max smiled, he walked out of the room.

"Damn this series, they had to do these scenes," Annika muttered.

**Enterprise, the Bridge:**  
Craig rushed off the turbolift, "Tom.. I need to talk to you."

Tom turned around, "ok breathe first Craig."

Craig caught his breath, "that device thing, the ball.. what did you do with it?"

"On the planet? I broke it," Tom replied.

"I know, where is it?" Craig asked.

"Didn't James tell you, I brought it aboard with me," Tom replied.

Craig sighed in relief, "oh good, where is it?"

"I can't remember, I know Jessie picked up the other half," Tom replied.

Craig turned pale, "son of a .."

Triah glanced behind her briefly, "we're in range of the Equinox."

Tom glanced at Craig funny before turning back around, "ready weapons."

**Ten Forward:**  
Noah poured a few drinks, "yeah throw that back in my face why don't you? They were only child Softmicron."

"Well these things are looking for payback Lessing, is there anything else you can tell me?" James asked.

Noah nodded his head, "yes. Their species create these things called games, and there are these people with extra strength who fight them. Oh wait, you already know that."

"Yes and you know I'm one of those people," James said. Noah turned rather pale. "Now if you're finished playing around, we can talk this over like adults."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know," Noah stuttered.

"Come on, what do you know?" James asked.

Noah sighed, "we captured them in the Games Matrix, we used a small device to disable them. We replicated it in a way so it would get in the cube with us."

"Was it a round device, like a ball?" James asked.

"Yeah kinda," Noah nodded his head. The room started shaking every now and then. "Looks like we've found the Equinox."

"So it seems," James muttered.

**The Bridge:**  
Lena stepped off the turbolift, the ship shook at that time, she grabbed a hold of the bar to steady herself. "How are we doing?"

Tom glanced back at her, "quite well, I wish we had a plan instead of killing them."

"Lena we have to keep an eye on Jessie and Faye, they're possessed and they want to destroy the Equinox," Craig blurted out.

Lena stared at him, "what?"

"They're possessed and.." Craig replied.

"No I guessed that part, James told me. Why do they want to destroy the Equinox?" Lena questioned.

"Because they're peed off dead Softmicron kids," Craig replied.

"And why are you so bothered about that device?" Tom asked.

"We think that it might help us. James was possessed and then he wasn't when the device broke," Craig replied.

"It's still broken though," Tom said.

"Hang on, Softmicron are possessing Jessie and Faye?" Lena questioned. Craig nodded his head. "Right, I have an idea." She stepped into the turbolift.

Tom looked nervous, "Craig you command the bridge." He joined Lena in the turbolift.

Craig looked rather worried, "that's great, we're screwed."

Triah nodded her head, "we really really are."

**Ten Forward:**  
Noah was now crying his eyes out while James sat around the bar looking bored. "I can't believe it, they're dead. I thought that Zare was just guarding me or something, nobody trusts me so.." He blew his nose on his sleeve.

James pulled a disgusted face, "uh huh."

"I'm sorry, some people are possessed by Softmicron, that's the important part," Noah sniffled.

"Yeah, one of them's my wife so you really should get a hold of yourself," James grumbled.

Noah's eyes widened, "woah, I don't even know where to start with that. Kinda kinky, kinda gross and illegal."

James glared at him, he lunged forward and grabbed the front of his shirt, "not the Softmicron you idiot, now tell me what I need to know."

Lena and Tom entered the room at that moment. Tom tried to keep a straight face, "did he ask for ID James?"

Noah looked rather scared, "um Tom. No, Lena.. your crazy brother is crazy. Help me out."

Lena walked over looking a lot calmer than before, "James, let go of him."

James rolled his eyes, "fine." He let go of Noah.

"Thank you, you're a star," Noah said.

Lena climbed over the bar, she then pushed him into the wall, "you're welcome."

"What are you two on today?" Tom snapped.

"Shut up Tom," Lena grumbled. "Now Noah, if you want to stay on this ship you've got to be a part of the team. Think you can do that?" Noah could only nod slightly.

"Maybe you shouldn't do that Lena," Tom said carefully.

"I got some info out of him anyway. The Softmicron can be disabled by that device Tom broke," James said.

Tom briefly glanced at the ground, "it was partly Jessie's fault."

"Will it disable the spirits long enough for us to get them out of Jessie and Faye's bodies?" Lena asked.

Noah tried to shake his head, "no, it will disable them and they should just leave on their own."

"If that's the case how did breaking it disable the male one that was in James?" Tom asked.

"I dunno, something to do with the energy it generates. If it's broke the energy gets released anyway, it should purge the area. That's how we captured a whole bunch of them," Noah replied.

"So you mean it's useless now?" Lena asked.

"Not really, you can either recharge it or replicate a new one. I could help you with that," Noah replied.

"Get Engineering on it Tom," Lena ordered.

Tom nodded nervously, "will do." He headed out of the room.

"Now Noah, why do you think there's only two attacking us.. or is there more?" Lena asked.

James leaned on the bar, "uh Lena."

Lena glanced back at him, "what?"

"You can beat that out of him later," James replied.

Lena turned back to glare at Noah, she let go of him. "You're lucky Noah's Ark," she muttered as she walked away. She and James headed out of the room.

**The Bridge:**  
Daniel stepped out of the turbolift, "somebody called for a weapons guy?"

Craig looked back at him, "yeah, our unknown crewmember is a lousy shot."

Daniel replaced the pouting unknown crewmember, she walked away in a huff. "Our shields are almost down, that's just great."

"Just keep firing, we need their shields down," Craig ordered.

"Duh, who put you in charge," Daniel muttered. He pressed a few buttons, "their shields are down."

Craig stared at him, "already?"

Daniel shrugged, "the unknown crewmember was a lousy shot."

"Triah," Craig said.

"I know, beaming them aboard," Triah muttered.

Some of the back consoles exploded, the ship shook violently. "Shields are down," Daniel said.

"I'm sorry, this ship is too big to move away in time," Naomi said.

"Sounds a bit like my dad," Faye said as she and Jessie stepped off the turbolift.

"Uhoh," Craig stuttered.

**Meanwhile:**  
"I don't know what you thought you were doing, he's not done anything.. recently," James said.

He and Lena stopped outside a turbolift door. "You're one to talk, what were you doing?"

"He insulted me, or he may as well have," James replied.

Lena groaned, "oh come on, I got the info out of him."

The turbolift doors opened, they both stepped inside. "I would of too, he was practically crying.. oh wait, that was before."

Lena just smiled, "he is a big wuss isn't he?"

In: "Anderson to Janeway, Paris and Stuart, we have company."

"That's just great," Lena sighed. "Deck One."

**The Bridge:**  
Faye moved over to Tactical, Jessie meanwhile was pacing the bridge with a phaser.

"Damn it, someone's locked out our commands," Faye muttered.

"Yeah, so shove off," Daniel said.

"Ok, which one of you did this?" Jessie asked angrily, pointing the phaser at Craig, then Naomi.

"Don't look at Naomi, she's too stupid," Craig commented.

Naomi nodded her head, "yeah I am, I so stupid.. wait."

"Oh it doesn't matter. I'll just kill people until somebody unblocks the commands. Lets face it, the Equinox will destroy you anyway," Jessie said.

Triah's eyes widened, "oh god, she has a point, or was it he."

Jessie rolled her eyes as she glanced over at Faye, "well?"

"I think the Enterprise is one of those ships that manage to stay ok, even when they're getting hammered," Faye replied.

Jessie shrugged, "oh well, who's first?"

"I'm thinking me," Daniel said. He punched Faye in the face, she fell to the ground.

"Oh good job Daniel," Craig sarcastically said.

Jessie quickly pointed her phaser at Daniel, "I told her to get a better host."

Craig pulled a face as he looked down at himself, "oh god, I got another disgusting boy."

"Screw this," Jessie grumbled as Lena and James stepped off the turbolift. She chanted something under her breath, everyone fell unconscious.

**The Equinox:**  
"Why aren't they fighting back?" Max asked.

"Beats me," Damien replied.

Max glanced at him, "oh, you're still here?"

"What, you think I'm happy about putting up with Mr Wannabe here?" Damien grumbled.

"You said you were impressed," Max snapped.

"I was for a millisecond. If you want to be a villain you've got to be cunning, smart and.." Damien said.

"You're not either of those things!" Max yelled.

"Oh and you are then?" Damien smirked.

"God, I'm getting stick from the guy in the seventeen year old girl's body," Max muttered.

**The Enterprise:**  
More or less everyone had regained consciousness, all tied up in one area of the bridge.

"Hey what happened, I thought we were trapped in a building," Faye muttered.

"Long story," James said.

"Yeah you're telling me, these last two parts are huge," Naomi said.

"Ok here's the deal. You tell us where the device is and we wont kill you," Jessie said.

"I thought you wanted control of the ship," Daniel said.

Craig folded his arms, "my host kinda told me about it, now where is it?"

Tom and Zare rushed onto the bridge. "We're here, we're here," Tom said, breathless.

Zare rolled her eyes, "can you be any louder, you idiot."

"I'll take care of them," Craig said. He went over to the newcomers, Zare just punched him and he fell unconscious.

"Ohno, it's like musical possession without the music," James commented.

Naomi's eyes lit up, "that sounds like a cool game."

"I know where it is," Tom said.

"Good, is it safe?" Jessie asked.

Tom nodded, "yeah, we should start killing them. We should tie this one up now."

Zare looked uncomfortable, "he'll be unconscious for a while." She turned around and punched Tom in the face. "So will he."

"Zare, stop knocking everyone out!" Lena snapped.

Jessie looked confused, "hey what the hell.. how did I get here?" Everyone else looked confused. Jessie took a knife out of her pocket, "ookay, someone explain please."

Zare sighed, "that's better, the witch can only take you so far." She quickly grabbed a hold of her, taking the knife away from her as she did.

"Oh, you don't want to do that," James muttered.

Zare just laughed, "I do really, now come on Slayer, jump me."

"Like I said before, that's one little gay kid," Daniel commented.

"Watch your mouth or I'll take it away from your face," Zare snapped.

Naomi struggled against the ropes, "um, you can untie me you know."

"Shut up will you," Zare grumbled. She placed the knife against Jessie's neck.

"I can't believe this, what is it with me and knives," Jessie muttered to herself.

"Ok you tell me how to unblock the controls, and I'll let your witch go free of charge," Zare said.

"Fine, I'll do it for you," James said. Triah and Daniel groaned as a result, Tom and Craig groaned as they were waking up.

Zare smiled, "ok.. don't try anything."

"He could of taken Tom hostage, but nooo, it had to be Jessie," Triah muttered.

"Heey," Tom moaned from the floor.

Zare pushed Jessie into the nearby wall, she knelt down nearby James. She was about to untie him when he punched her in the head, she fell to the ground looking more annoyed than dazed.

"Hey, I didn't even untie you," she snapped.

Both James and Lena stood up, arms free. "Well I've been untied for about five minutes," James said.

"Me too, great tying," Lena said.

Jessie looked far from happy, "ok you couldn't of made a move earlier?"

Naomi struggled again, "uh hello, I'm your friend, untie me."

"I've had it with you people," Zare grumbled. She got to her feet quickly, then she attacked James, so they both fought. Lena quickly rushed over to Tactical.

"Uh Lena, untie us please," Faye stuttered.

Jessie groaned, "I'll do it." She stepped on Tom's arm on the way to the others.

"Ow, you did that on purpose!" Tom moaned.

Lena keyed in a few commands at Tactical, "hey Softmicron, you want the console unblocked. It's done now."

Zare and James stopped fighting, they both glanced her way. "What, you're not suppose to do that Lena," James said.

Zare smiled, "aaw, she's such a sweetie." She kneed James in a certain area, he backed away. All the other guys cringed as a result.

"Yeesh, if I didn't know any better, I'd say the Softmicron were trying to wipe out the human race," Daniel sarcastically said.

"Shut up Daniel," almost everybody said.

Lena looked like she was ready to blow, "I can't take this anymore. You guys want the Equinox dead?" She pressed a few buttons on the console.

"Lena, don't!" Tom yelled from the ground.

**Meanwhile, the Equinox:**  
"I am not a wussy, I just happen to like rabbits!" Damien yelled.

"Big sissies like rabbits, I bet you even recorded every episode of Watership Down!" Max screamed.

"Well actually.." Damien muttered. He noticed the console he was at was beeping, "ohno."

**The Enterprise:**  
Everyone watched as the Equinox exploded on the viewscreen.

"There, now you can leave our ship.. everyone's happy," Lena said, not looking too sure about it.

Zare and Naomi glanced at each other before looking back at her. "Thanks," Zare said.

"Don't thank me, just go," Lena said.

In a blink of an eye Zare and Naomi were looking around the room, rather confused. "Did I miss anything?" Zare asked.

"Why am I still tied up?" Naomi moaned. Jessie groaned as she untied her. "Thanks." Everyone else were busy staring blankly at Lena.

"I'll just be getting the rest of my stuff from the Ready Room," Lena muttered. She turned and walked towards her Ready Room.

"I can't believe she just did that," Craig commented.

Zare glared at James, "did you punch me or something?"

"A few times yeah, you did worse," James replied. He headed towards the Ready Room.

"What did I do?" Zare asked sheepishly.

"You nearly cut my throat," Jessie muttered.

Tom shook his head, "no, the worse part had to be when you ruined Jessie's lovelife for the week."

Jessie glared at him, she punched him hard in the face.

**Meanwhile, the Ready Room:**  
Lena started dumping some stuff into the only box, "no lectures, I'm not in the mood."

"Fine, I was never that good at heartwarming, thought provoking or in fact any kind of lectures anyway," James said.

Lena picked up the box, she carried it over to the desk, she placed it on it. "So what do you want then?"

"Are you really quitting?" James asked.

Lena groaned, "no, I'm moving my stuff out for fun."

James glanced briefly at the ground, "I thought I was the sarcastic one. What are you going to do instead?"

"I don't know, somewhere I can do what I'm good at," Lena replied. She turned to face him, "is there a club for mopers and murderers?"

"Yeah but it's not that fun so I quit it, you don't want to go there," James replied.

"Then what am I going to do then? Sit around and wait for Kiara to come back?" Lena snapped, tears formed quickly in her eyes. "Now I'm starting to cry, oh very good, now I'm a big wuss."

"Hey, are you trying to say that I'm a big wuss?" James said as he stepped a little bit closer to her.

"Maybe," Lena muttered. "Do you think she'll even want to come back after training?"

"Of course she will, what kind of question is that?" James replied.

"That's what I thought, but then I figured I was just kidding myself. I was horrible to her, why would she come back?" Lena said, getting quieter every few words. She then burst out crying, James came over the rest of the way and put his arms around her. Lena put her own arms around him, she cried into his shoulder.

******THE END******


End file.
